That said, 5% might be possible. That would cover half of the interest payments on the federal debt in a year.
It also depends if they're going for one-time or continuing reductions. Obviously the latter is preferable. And cost-shifting to the future doesn't count.
Outlays jumped over $2T in 2020 (3rd column, 127th row). We all know why.
Outlays have not come down to anything close to pre-COVID levels. We all know why.
Cutting $2T from a $6.7T budget would not even return to 2019's pre-COVID outlays.
Seems doable to me.
Federal Net Outlays as Percent of GDP have been around 20% since ~1980:
* https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S
They jumped to 30% in 2020, and are on a downward trend, with 2023 being at 22%.
Technically true not down to 20% in 2019, but not as horrendous as many people think.